men, and their families, and afterwards gave him Ziklag, 1 Sam. xxvii. 2, seq. See DAVID. ACHMETA. Ezra vi. 2, "There was found at Achmeta a roll."-Achmeta is here the same with Ecbatana, the royal city, where, in the palace, the rolls were kept. So the Vulgate, which reads Ecbatanis; and 1 Esdras vi. 23; also Josephus, Antiq. xi. 4-6. ACHOR, 1, troubling, a valley in the territory of Jericho, and in the tribe of Benjamin, where Achan was stoned, Josh. vii. 24; xv. 7; Isaiah lxv. 10; Hosea ii. 15. The name was still in use in the time of Jerome. ACHSAH, daughter of Caleb, who promised to give her as a reward to him who should take KirjathSepher. (See DOWRY.) Othniel, his brother's son, having taken that town, married Achsah, and obtained from Caleb the gift of a field having upper and nether springs-a valuable addition to KirjathSepher, Josh. xv. 16; Judg. i. 12. See WATER, and WELLS. ACHSHAPH, a city of Asher, Josh. xii. 20; xix. 25. Its site is unknown. I. ACHZIB, a city in the plain of Judah, Josh. xv. 44; Micah i. 14. II. ACHZIB, a city on the seacoast of Galilee, assigned to the tribe of Asher, but not conquered by them, Josh. xix. 29; Judg. i. 31. According to Eusebius and Jerome, it lay about nine miles north of Ptolemais, or Accho; and was afterwards called Ecdippa, Jos. B. J. i. 13. 4. It is now called Zib. Mod. Traveller, ii. p. 29. which the Holy Spirit established that church which Christ had redeemed. Ecumenius (in Acta, page 20.) calls the Acts, "the Gospel of the Holy Ghost;" Chrysostom (in Acta Homil. 1.) calls it, "the Gospel of our Saviour's resurrection," or "the Gospel of the risen Jesus Christ." It narrates most miraculous instances of the power of the Holy Spirit, attending the propagation of the gospel; and in the accounts and instances of the first believers, we have most excellent patterns of a truly Christian life. So that, though Luke seems to give us but a plain narrative of facts, yet this divine physician, to use Jerome's expression, offers as many remedies to heal the soul's diseases, as he speaks words, Ep. 103. It is believed that Luke's principal design in writing the Acts, was to preserve a true history of the apostles, and of the infancy of the Christian church, in opposition to false acts and false histories, which were beginning to obtain circulation; and accordingly, his fidelity and intelligence have been so much valued, that all other Acts of the Apostles have perished, and his, only, been adopted by the church. Luke wrote this book, probably, about A. D. 64; i. e. soon after the point of time at which the narration terminates. The place where it was written is unknown. The style of Luke is generally more pure and elegant than that of other parts of the New Testament. Epiphanius says (Hæres. xxx. cap. 3 & 6.) that this book was translated by the Ebionites out of Greek into Hebrew; (that is, Syriac, the then common language of the Jews in Palestine ;) but that those heretics corrupted it with many falsities and impieties, injurious to the character and memory of the apostles. ACRA, a Greek word, signifying, in general, a citadel, in which sense it is also used in the Chaldee and Syriac. King Antiochus built a citadel at Jerusalem, on an eminence north of the temple, which The Book of the Acts has always been esteemed commanded the holy place; and for which reason it canonical: (Tertul. l. v. cont. Marc. cap. 1, 2.) though was called Acra. Josephus says (Antiq. lib. xii. cap. the Marcionites, the Manichees, and some other here7. & 14; lib. xiii. cap. 11.) that this eminence was tics rejected it, because their errors were too clearly semicircular, and that Simon Maccabæus, having ex-condemned by it. Augustine (Ep. 315.) says, the pelled the Syrians, who had seized Acra, demolished church received it with edification, and read it every it, and spent three years in leveling the mountain on year. Chrysostom complains, that in his time it was which it stood; that no situation in future should too little known, and the reading of it too much command the temple. On mount Acra were after- neglected. As for himself, he very much extols the wards built the palace of Helena, queen of the Adia- advantages of an acquaintance with it, and mainbenians; Agrippa's palace, the place where the public tains, with good reason, that it is as useful as the records were lodged, and that where the magistrates Gospels. of Jerusalem assembled, Joseph. de Bello, lib. vii. cap. 15; Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 7. I. ACRABATENE. A district or toparchy of Judea, extending between Shechem (now Napolose) and Jericho, inclining east. It was about twelve miles in length. The name is not found in Scripture, but occurs in Josephus, B. J. ii. 12. 4; iii. 3, 4, 5. In order to read the Acts of the Apostles with intelligence and profit, it is necessary to have a sufficient acquaintance with geography, with the manners of the times and people referred to, and with the leading historical events. The power of the Romans, with the nature and names of the public officers they established, and the distinctions among them, must of necessity be understood; as well as II. ACRABATENE, or ACRABATINE, a district on the disposition and political conduct and opinions of the frontier of Idumea, towards the southern ex- the unconverted Jewish nation, which obtained, too tremity of the Dead sea. It seems to be named from strongly, among the Christianized Hebrews, and the Maaleh Acrabbim, or Hill of Scorpions, men-maintained themselves as distinctions, and causes of tioned (Josh. xv. 3.) as the southern extremity of the separation in the church, during many ages. In fact, tribe of Judah.-It is found only in 1 Maccab. v. 3. their consequences are hardly extinct in the East at ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, a canonical book this day. of the New Testament, written by Luke, and containing a considerable part of the history of Peter and Paul. The narrative begins at the ascension of our Saviour, and continues to Paul's arrival at Rome, after his appeal to Cæsar; with his residence of two years in that capital; including about twenty-eight or thirty years. After Luke had given the history of Jesus Christ in his Gospel, he resolved to record the actions of the apostles, and the wonderful manner in There were several SPURIOUS ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. (1.) THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES supposed to have been written by Abdias, who represents himself as a bishop, ordained at Babylon, by the apostles, when they were on their journey into Persia; but which is neither ancient nor authentic; it was not known to Eusebius, to Jerome, nor to any earlier father. The author says, he wrote in Greek, and that his book was translated into Latin by Julius 66 ,איש .Heb) Africanus; who is himself a Greek writer. He cites | Adam, and while he slept, took one of his ribs, a Hegesippus, who lived in the second century. (2.) closed up the flesh; and of the rib thus taken fr The ACTS OF ST. PETER, otherwise called Travels man he made a woman, (woMB-MAN, Saxon,) who of St. Peter, (Periodi Petri,) or "The Recognitions he presented to him when he awoke. Adam receiv of St. Clement," is a book filled with visions and her, saying, "This is now bone of my bone, a fables, which came originally from the school of the flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, Ebionites. See Cotelerius, in his Fathers of the first cause she was taken out of man.' Century; likewise Fabricius's Cod. Apocr. N. T., woman.) He also called her name Eve, page 759, &c. (3.) The ACTS OF ST. PAUL, were because she was the mother of all living. composed after his death, as a supplement to St. Luke; continuing his narrative from the second year of the apostle's first voyage to Rome, to the end of his life. Eusebius, who had seen this work, calls it spurious. (4.) The ACTS OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, mentioned in Epiphanius and Augustine, contain incredible stories of that apostle. It was used by the Encratites, Manichees, and Priscillianists. They are thought to be the Acts of St. John, pubished among the forgeries of Abdias. (Epiphan.ses the fulfilment. As their natural passions now Hæres. 47. Aug. de Fide, cap. 4. and 405. Contra adversar. Legis et Prophet. lib. i. cap. 20.) (5.) The ACTS OF ST. ANDREW, received by the Manichees, Encratites, and Apotactics. See Epiphanius, Hæres. 42, 61, and 62. (6.) THE ACTS OF ST. THOMAS: Augustine cites some things out of them, and says, the Manichees particularly used them. (7.) The ACTS OF ST. PHILIP, was a book used by the Gnostics. (8.) The ACTS OF ST. MATTHIAS. See M. de Tillemont, Eccl. Hist. tom. i. p. 1186; and Fabricius's Cod. Apoc. N. T. p. 782. The authorities respecting all these spurious works, as well as of the ACTS OF PILATE, are collected in Fabricii Cod. Apoc. N. T. vol. i, ii. ADADA, a city in the south of Judah, Josh. xv. 22. ADAD-RIMMON, or HADAD-RIMMON, a city in the valley of Jezreel, where the fatal battle between Josiah, king of Judah, and Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, (2 Kings xxiii. 29; Zech. xii. 11.) was fought. Adad-rinamon was afterwards called Maximianopolis, in honor of the emperor Maximian. It is seventeen miles from Cæsarea in Palestine, and ten miles from Jezreel. See Bib. Repository, vol. i. p. 602. I. ADAH, one of Lamech's two wives; mother of Jabal and Jubal, Gen. iv. 19. See LAMECH. II. ADAH, daughter of Elon, the Hittite, and wife of Esau; the mother of Eliphaz, Gen. xxxvi. 4. ADAM, red, the proper name of the first man. It has always the article, and is therefore originally an appellative, the man. The derivation of it, as well as adamah, earth, from the verb or, to be red, (in Ethiop. to be beautiful,) is not improbable, when we take into account the reddish or brown complexion of the orientals. But the word Adam may also be primitive. R. The Almighty formed Adam out of the dust of the earth, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and gave him dominion over all the lower creatures, Gen. i. 26; ii. 7. He created him in his own image, and having pronounced a blessing upon him, placed him in a delightful garden, that he might cultivate it, and enjoy its fruits. At the same time, however, he gave him the following injunction :—“ Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat; for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The first recorded exercise of Adam's power and intelligence was his giving names to the beasts of the field, and fowls of the air, which the Lord brought before him for this purpose. A short time after this, the Lord, observing that it was not good for man to be alone, caused a deep sleep to fall upon This woman, being seduced by the tempter, p suaded her husband to eat of the forbidden fr When called to judgment for this transgression fore God, Adam blamed his wife, "whom," said THOU gavest me;" and the woman blamed the s pent-tempter. God punished the tempter by deg dation and dread; the woman by painful hopes, a a situation of submission; and the man by a life labor and toil; of which punishment every day with came irregular, and their exposure to accidents gr God made a covering of skin for Adam and for his w He also expelled them from his garden, to the la around it, where Adam had been made, and wh was to be their future dwelling; placing at the of the garden a flame, which turned every way KEEP the way to the tree of life, Gen. iii. It is not known how long Adam and his wife c tinued in paradise: some think, many years; oth not many days; others, not many hours. Sho after their expulsion, Eve brought forth Cain, iv. 1, 2. Scripture notices but three sons of Ada Cain, Abel, and Seth, and omits daughters: Moses tells us, "Adam begat sons and daughter no doubt many. He died, aged 930, ante A. D. 30 This is what we learn from Moses; but interpret not satisfied with his concise relation, propos thousand inquiries relating to the first man; and tainly no history can furnish more questions, as of curiosity as of consequence. In reviewing the history of Adam, there are sev things that demand particular notice. 1. The formation of Adam is introduced with cumstances of dignity superior to any which tended the creation of the animals. It evidently pears (whatever else be designed by it) to be intention of the narrator, to mark this passage, to lead his readers to reflect on it. God said, " us make man, (1.) In our image; (2.) Accordin our likeness; and let him rule," &c. Gen. i. These seem to be two ideas: First, "In our ima in our similitude. This could not refer to his fig (1.) Because the human figure, though greatly s rior in formation and beauty to animals, is not so tirely distinct from them in the principles of its struction, as to require a special consultation a it, after the animals had been formed. (2.) If al species of monkeys were made before man, the semblance in some of them to the human f greatly strengthens the former argument. (3.) Scriptures, elsewhere, represent this distinctio referring to moral excellency; “in knowledge— the image of him who created him," Col. iii "The new man, which, according to God, (zara is created in righteousness and true holiness," Ep] 24. In other places, also, the comparison tur his purity, his station, &c. Secondly, “ Accordi our likeness," is a stronger expression than the for and more determinate to its subject. If we co this with the following words, and let him ruleimport of the passage may be given thus:-“ shall have, according to his nature and capac 66 general likeness to such of our perfections as fit him for the purposes to which we design him; but he shall also have a resemblance to us, in the rule and government of the creatures; for, though he be incapable of any of our attributes, he is capable of a purity, a rectitude, and a station of dominion, in which he may be our vicegerent." Thus, then, in a lower and looser sense, man was the image of God; possessing a likeness to him in respect to moral excellency, of which the creatures were absolutely void; and having also a resemblance to God, as his deputy, his representative, among and over the creation for which he was qualified by holiness, knowledge, and other intellectual and moral attributes. | his mind was violated; the first compliance with sin opened the way to future compliances; grosser temptations might now expect success; and thus spotless purity becoming impure, perfect uprightness becoming warped, lost that entirety which had been its glory. Hereby Adam relinquished that distinction, which had fitted him for immediate communion with supreme holiness, and was reduced to the necessity of soliciting such communion, mediately, not immediately; by another, not by himself; in prospect, not instant; in hope, not in possession; in time future, not in time present; in another world, not in this. It is worthy of notice, how precisely the principles which infatuated Adam have ever governed his posterity; how suitable to the general character of the human race was the nature of that temptation by which their father fell! As the day on which creation ended was immediately succeeded by a sabbath, the first act of man was worship; hence the influence and extent of the 5. It is presumable that only, or chiefly, in the custom of setting apart a sabbath among his poster- garden of Paradise, were the prime fruits and herity; since not in paradise only would Adam main-bage in perfection. The land around the garden tain this rite. 2. "Adam became a living soul;" by which we understand a living person, (1.) Because such is the import of the original, simply taken: (2.) Having mentioned that Adam was made of the dust of the earth, is a reason why the sacred writer should here mention his animation. But, (3.) It is very possible, that it implies some real distinction between the nature of the living principle, or soul, (not spirit,) in Adam, and that of animals. May we suppose that this principle, thus especially imparted by God, was capable of immortality; that, however the beasts might die by nature, man would survive by nature? that he had no inherent seeds of dissolution in him, but that his dissolution was the consequence of his sin, and the execution of the threatening, "dying thou shalt die ?" In fact, as Adam lived nearly a thousand years after eating the fruit, which, probably, poisoned his blood, how much longer might he not have lived, had that poison never been taken by him? See DEATH. 3. The character, endowments, and history of Adam, are very interesting subjects of reflection to the whole human race; and the rather, because the memorials respecting him, which have been transmitted to us, are but brief, and consequently obscure. In considering the character of Adam, the greatest difficulty is, to divest ourselves of ideas received from the present state of things. We cannot sufficiently dismiss from our minds that knowledge (rather, that subtilty) which we have acquired by experience. We should, nevertheless, remember, that however Adam might be a man in capacity of understanding, yet in experience he could be but a child. He had no cause to distrust any, to suspect fraud, collusion, prevarication, or ill design. Where, then, is the wonder, if entire innocence, if total unsuspicion, should be deceived by an artful combination of appearances; by fraud and guile exerted against it? But the disobedience of Adam is not the less inexcusable on this account; because, as was his situation, such was the test given to him. It was not an active, but a passive duty; not something to be done, but something to be forborne; a negative trial Nor did it regard the mind, but the appetite; nor was that appetite without fit, yea, much fitter, supply in abundance all around it. Unwarrantable presumption, unrestrained desire, liberty extended into licentiousness, was the principle of Adam's transgression. 4. The breaking of a beautiful vase, may afford rome idea of Adam after his sin. The integrity of might be much less finished, and only fertile to a certain degree. To promote its fertility, by cultivation, became the object of Adam's labor; so that in the sweat of his brow, he himself did eat bread. But the sentence passed on our first parents, doubtless regarded them as the representatives, the very concentration, of their posterity, the whole human race; and after attaching to themselves, it seems, prophetically also, to suggest the condition of the sexes in future ages, q. d. "The female sex, which has been the means of bringing death into the world, shall also be the means of bringing life-posterity— to compensate the ravages of death; and, to remind the sex of its original transgression, that which shall be its greatest honor and happiness shall be accompanied by no slight inconveniences. But the male sex shall be under the necessity of laboring for the support, not of itself only, but of the female and her family; so that if a man could with little exertion provide for himself, he should be stimulated by far greater exertions, to toil, to sweat, for the advantage and support of those to whom he has been the means of giving life." 6. Death closes the sentence passed on mankind; and was also prophetic of an event common to Adam, and to all his descendants. But see how the favor of God mitigates the consequences announced in this sentence! It inflicts pain on the woman, but that pain was connected with the dearest comforts, and with the great restorer of the human race; it assigns labor to the man, but then that labor was to support himself, and others dearer to him than himself, repetitions of himself; it denounces death, but death indefinitely postponed, and appointed as the path to life.-[The curse pronounced on man includes not only physical labor and toil, the barrenness of the earth, and its tendency to produce shrubs and weeds, which retard his exertions, and render his toil more painful and difficult; it includes not only the physical dissolution of the body; but also the exposure of the soul, the nobler part, to 'everlasting death.' There is no where in Scripture any hint that the bodies either of animals or of man in the state before the fall, were not subject to dissolution, just as much as at present. Indeed the whole physical structure goes to indicate directly the contrary. The life of man and of animals, as at present constituted, is a constant succession of decay and renovation; and so far as physiology can draw any conclusion, this has ever been the case. We may therefore suppose, that the death denounced upon The Talmudists, Cabalists, Mahommedans, Persians, and other Eastern people, relate many fabulous stories relative to the creation and life of Adam, some of which may be seen in the larger edition of Calmet. II. ADAM was the name of a city near the Jordan, not far from Zarethan; at some distance from which the waters of Jordan were collected in a heap, when the children of Israel passed through, Josh. iii. 16. The name was not improbably derived from the color of the clay in its neighborhood, which was used for casting the vessels of the temple, 1 Kings vii. 46. man, was rather moral and spiritual death; in that very day, he should lose the image of his Maker, and become exposed to that eternal doom, which has justly fallen upon all his race. Such is also the view of the apostle Paul; who every where contrasts the death introduced into the world through Adam with the life which is procured for our race through Jesus Christ, Rom. v. 12, seq. But this life is only spiritual; the death, then, in its highest sense, is also spiritual. So far, too, as the penalty is temporal and physical, no specific remedy is provided; no man is or can be exempt from it; and it depends not on his choice. But to remove the spiritual punishment, Christ has died; and he who will, may avoid the threatened death, and enter into life eternal. 7. In regard to the situation of Adam before the fall, his powers and capacities, his understanding and acquirements, very much has been said and written, but all of course to no purpose; since the Scriptures, the only document we have, are entirely silent on these points. The poetical statements of Milton in his Paradise Lost, are deserving of just as much credit as the speculations of Jewish Rabbins or Christian theologians. We can only affirm, that the Scriptures recognize man as being formed in his full strength of body and his full powers of mind; that he possessed not only the capacity for speech and knowledge, but that he was also actually in the possession and exercise of language, and of such knowledge at least as was necessary for his situation. There is no suggestion in the Bible, that he was formed merely with the powers requisite for acquiring these things, and then left at first in a state of ignorance which would place him on a level with the brutes, and from which he must have emerged simply by his own exertions and observation. On the contrary, the representation of the Bible is, that he was at first formed, in all respects, a full-grown man, with all the faculties and all the endowments necessary to qualify him for his station as lord of a new and beautiful creation. *R. 8. The salvation of Adam has been a subject of trivial dispute. Tatian and the Encratites were positive he was damned; but this opinion the church condemned. The book of Wisdom says, (chap. x. 2.) "That God delivered him from his fall," and the Fathers and Rabbins believe he did hard penance. Some of the ancients believed, that our first parents were interred at Hebron, which opinion they whimsically grounded on Joshua xiv. 15, "And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-Arba, which Arba was a great man (Adam, ) among the Anakim." -Origen, Epiphanius, Jerome, and a great number hold that Adam was buried on Calvary; and this opinion has still its advocates. There is a chapel on mount Calvary dedicated to Adam. Adam has been the reputed author of several books, and some have believed that he invented the Hebrew letters. The Jews say he is the author of the ninety-first Psalm; and that he composed it soon after the creation. The Gnostics had a book entitled, "The Revelations of Adam," which is placed among the apocryphal writings by pope Gelasius, who also mentions a book called "Adam's Penance." Masius speaks of another "Of the Creation," said to have been composed by Adam.-On all these, see Fabricii Cod. Pseudepigr. V. T. vol. i. Hottinger, Histor. Oriental. pag. 22.-The Arabians inform us, that Adam received twenty books which fell from heaven, and contained many laws, promises, and prophecies. ADAMAH, a city of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 36. The LXX call it Armath; the Vulgate, Edema. ADAMANT, o shamir, a name anciently used for the diamond, the hardest of all minerals. It is used for cutting or writing upon glass and other hard substances, Jer. xvii. 1. It is also employed figuratively, Ezek. iii. 9; Zech. vii. 12. The same name of the diamond is common in Arabia.—Others suppose it to be the smiris, or emery. ADAMI, a city of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 33. ADAMITES, a heretical sect of the second century, who affected to possess the innocence of Adam, and whose nakedness they imitated in their churches, which they called Paradise. Its author was Prodicus, a disciple of Carpocrates. I. ADAR, the twelfth month of the Hebrew ecclesiastical year, and the sixth of the civil year. It has twenty-nine days; and nearly answers to our February and March, according to the Rabbins. (See MONTHS, and the JEWISH CALENDAR.) As the lunar year, which the Jews follow in their calculation, is shorter than the solar year by eleven days which after three years make about a month, they then insert a thirteenth month, which they call Ve Adar, or a second Adar, to which they assign twenty nine days. II. ADAR, a city on the southern border of Judah Josh. xv. 3. In Numb. xxxiv. 4. it is called Hazar Addar, or the court of Adar. ADARSA, or ADASA, (1 Macc. vii. 40.) a city o Ephraim, four miles from Beth-horon, and not fa from Gophna, Joseph. Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 17; Eusel in Adasa. Perhaps, between the upper Beth-horo and Diospolis; because it is said (1 Macc. vii. 45 the victorious army of Judas pursued the Syrian from Adasa to Gadara, or Gazara, which is one day journey. Adarsa is also called Adazer, and Adac or Acedosa, in Josephus, Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 17. an de Bello, lib. i. cap. 1. Here Nicanor was ove come, and his army put to flight by Judas Mace bæus, notwithstanding he had 3000 men only, whi Nicanor had 35,000. Josephus tells us, that Juda in another war, was killed in this place, de Bell lib. i. cap. 1. ADDAR, see ADAR II. ADDER, see ASP, and SERPENT. ADIABENE, a region of Assyria, frequently me tioned by Josephus, whose queen Helena and h son Izates were made converts to Judaism, Josep Antiq. xx. 2. ADIDA, a city of Judah, where Simon Mac bæus encamped to dispute the entrance into country with Tryphon, who had treacherou seized Jonathan at Ptolemais, 1 Macc. xii. xiii. 13. ADITHAIM, a city of Judah, whose situation not known, Josh. xv. 36. ADMAH, the most easterly of the five cities the plain, destroyed by fire from heaven, and af wards overwhelmed by the waters of the Dead sea, | edged king by only part of Israel, 2 Sam. iii. 2, 4. Gen. xix. 24. His elder brothers, Amnon and Absalom, being dead, ADONAI, 178, Lord, Master, old plural form of Adonijah believed the crown by right belonged to the noun adon, similar to that with the suffix of the him, and made an effort to get acknowledged king first person; used as the pluralis excellentiæ by way before his father's death. For this purpose he set of dignity for the name of JEHOVAH. The similar up a magnificent equipage, with chariots and horseform, with the suffix, is also used of men; as of men, and fifty men to run before him; and conJoseph's master, Gen. xxxix. 2, 3, seq.-of Joseph tracted very close engagements with Joab the genhimself, Gen. xlii. 30. 33; so Isaiah xix. 4. The eral, and Abiathar the priest, who had more interest Jews, out of superstitious reverence for the name with the king than any others. Having matured his JEHOVAH, always, in reading, pronounced Adonai plans, Adonijah made a great entertainment for his where Jehovah is written; hence the letters are adherents, near the fountain Rogel, east of the city, usually written with the points belonging to Adonai. and below the walls, to which he invited all the See JEHOVAH. R. king's sons, except Solomon; and also the principal persons of Judah, except Nathan, Zadok, and Benaiah, who were not of his party. His design was at this time to be proclaimed king, and to assume the government before the death of David. Nathan, however, having obtained a knowledge of his design, went with Bathsheba to the king, who informed him of Adonijah's proceedings, and interceded in favor of Solomon. David immediately gave orders that Solomon should be proclaimed king of Israel, which was promptly done, and the intelligence so alarmed Adonijah and his party, that they dispersed in great confusion. Fearing that Solomon would put him to death, Adonijah retired to the tabernacle, and laid hold on the horns of the altar. Solomon, however, generously pardoned him, and sent him home, 1 Kings i. ADONI-BEZEK, i. e. the lord of Bezek, king of the city Bezek, in Canaan, seventeen miles N. E. from Napolose, towards Scythopolis.-Adoni-bezek was a powerful and cruel prince, who, having at various times taken seventy kings, ordered their thumbs and great toes to be cut off, and made them gather their meat under his table, Judg. i. 7. After the death of Joshua, the tribes Judah and Simeon marched against Adoni-bezek, who commanded an army of Canaanites and Perizzites. They vanquished him, killed ten thousand men, and having taken him, cut off his thumbs and his great toes; Adoni-bezek acknowledging the retributive justice of this punishment from God. He was afterwards carried to Jerusalem, where he died, Judg. i. 4, seq. Notwithstanding that the barbarity of Adoni-bezek, in thus mutilating his enemies, was so enormous in its character, there is reason to think that similar cruelties are by no means uncommon in the East. Much more severe, in fact, is the cruelty contained in the following narration of Indian war: -"The inhabitants of the town of Lelith Pattan were disposed to surrender themselves, from fear of having their noses cut off, like those of Cirtipur, and also their right hands; a barbarity the Gorchians had threatened them with, unless they would surrender within five days!" (Asiat. Researches, vol. ii.) Another resemblance to the history of the men of Jabesh; who desired seven days of melancholy respite from their threatened affliction by Nahash, of having their right eyes thrust out, 1 Sam. xi. 2. The following is another similar scene of cruelty: "Prithwinarayan issued an order to Suruparatana his brother, to put to death some of the principal inhabitants of the town of Cirtipur, and to cut off the noses and lips of every one, even the infants who were found in the arms of their mothers; ordering, at the same time, all the noses and lips that had been cut off to be preserved, that he might ascertain how many souls there were; and to change the name of the town to Nashatapir, which signifies the town of cut noses. The order was carried into execution with every mark of horror and cruelty, none escaping but those who could play on wind instruments; many put an end to their lives in despair; others came in great bodies to us in search of medicines; and it was most shocking to see so many living people with their teeth and noses resembling the skulls of the deceased," i. e. by being bare; because deprived of their natural covering. (Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. page 187.) The learned reader will recollect an instance of the very same barbarity, in the town which, from that circumstance, was nanied Rhinocolura, or "cut noses," between Judea and Egypt. See RHINOCOLURA. ADONIJAH, fourth son of David, by Haggith, was born at Hebron, while his father was acknowl Some time after David's death, Adonijah, by means of Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, intrigued to obtain Abishag, the recent wife of his father; but Solomon, suspecting it to be a project to obtain the kingdom, had him put to death, ch. ii. 13, &c. A. M. 2990, ante A. D. 1014. ADONIRAM, the receiver of Solomon's tributes, and chief director of the 30,000 men whom that prince sent to Lebanon, to cut timber, 1 Kings v. 14. The name Adoram is made from this word by contraction, and applied to the same person, who was receiver-general from David until Rehoboam, 2 Sam. xx. 24; 1 Kings xii. 18. He is also called Hadoram, 2 Chr. x. 18. R. ADONIS. According to the Vulgate, Ezek. viii. 14 imports that this prophet saw women sitting in the temple, weeping for Adonis; but the Hebrew reads, for Tammuz, or, the hidden one. Among the Egyptians, Adonis was adored under the name of Osiris, husband of Isis. The Greeks worshipped Isis and Osiris under other names, as that of Bacchus; and the Arabians under that of Adonis: Ogygia me Bacchum canit; Ausonius. But he was sometimes called Ammuz, or Tammuz, the concealed, to denote, probably, the manner of his death, or the place of his burial. (Vide Plutarch de Defectu Oracul.) The Syrians, Phœnicians, and Cyprians called him Adonis. The Hebrew women, therefore, of whom Ezekiel is speaking, celebrated the feasts of Tammuz, or Adonis, in Jerusalem; and God showed the prophet these women weeping, even in his own sacred temple, for the supposed death of this infamous god. The Rabbins tell us, that Tammuz was an idolatrous prophet, who having been put to death by the king of Babylon, all the idols of the country flocked |